By Heather Thomas
It’s very important for every newborn foal to ingest an adequate amount of colostrum very soon after birth. John Madigan, DVM (University of California, Davis) says the amount of colostrum a foal has ingested can be quantified with an IgG test to know if the foal has obtained adequate antibodies.
Several years ago he started recommending hand feeding colostrum before the foal gets up. “During the process of seeking the udder, foals can acquire bacteria that go into the intestinal tract and cross the open gut,” says Madigan. The intestinal lining is permeable for a short time, to allow the large molecules of antibodies in colostrum to slip through into the bloodstream and lymph system, but this also enables bacteria to slip through.
“On a farm where we experienced a large salmonella outbreak, we began this process of getting colostrum into the foals before they nurse the mare, along with washing the mare down and having a clean udder before the foal nurses. Once the udder is cleaned up, we milk the mare (obtaining 4 to 8 ounces of colostrum),” he says.
He recommends use of the Udderly EZ mare milker, a hand-held, trigger operated pump with bottle attached. This makes the milking much easier, faster, and safer and it’s less irritating to the mare than using your fingers because there is no friction on the teat. The bottle can be filled within seconds, and then it can be detached from the pump, a nipple put on it, and the colostrum fed to the foal.
“While the foal is still lying there, and starting tongue movement and suck reflex, we feed him from a bottle. We found that these foals take a bottle very readily, before they stand up.” Once they’ve tried to stand up, they may not be as cooperative–they are focused so strongly on getting up and going to the mare. But the suckle reflex is very strong right after birth and foals will readily suck a bottle that is offered, before they get up.
This will not confuse them nor prevent them from going ahead in their urge to find the udder. “They don’t know where that milk came from; it merely stimulates them to want to get up and look for more. So this was part of our treatment in prevention strategy, to protect the foal from early infection with salmonella, and it was very effective.”
When a foal is born, it’s a race between the pathogens and the antibodies. This simple technique gets colostrum into the gut ahead of the bacteria. It stimulates systemic immunity and gives local coating of the gut, providing antibodies to combat pathogens that are ingested during udder seeking.
If the “good guys” (antibodies in colostrum) get to the gut first, they close the door, so to speak, to pathogenic organisms that might cause disease, preventing penetration of the intestinal lining by bacteria and their toxins. “Research in other species has shown that absorption of antibodies from colostrum inhibits bacterial translocation. The colostrum provides a local antibody, IgA, which is present in the gut (in addition to the IgG molecules that go through into the bloodstream). The IgA stays in the gut to give protection. There is enough evidence to infer that colostrum prevents and reduces bacterial translocation in foals as well,” says Madigan.
A number of circumstances, however, can delay a foal in getting the colostrum quickly, or he may lick the ground or contaminated objects before he actually nurses. “If the foal is weak or becomes chilled, or the mare has a sore and tender udder–anything that delays the first nursing–this can interfere with protection. If a foal is slow to find the udder, he’s hungry and may be licking on anything, and more at risk for bacterial translocation. If you can get some colostrum into the foal soon after birth, he’ll be off to a healthier start.”
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